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Raspberry Jam

In the second week of July I was house-sitting for my dad, who abandoned his produce in favour of a week long kayak trip to the Deer Group on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Deciding to take full advantage of his crops, I harvested buckets and buckets of raspberries. After freezing lots of winter smoothies, I decided to make my first foray into jam making.

Using my delightful BHG Canning magazine, I selected a recipe (plain raspberry jam) and set to work. Here is the recipe and some basic instructions.

Raspberry Harvest from my dad’s garden

Recipe:

8 cups raspberries

1 package powered pectin

7 cups sugar

Basic Instructions:

Crush raspberries until you have 5 cups of crushed berries in a large (8-10 quart) pot

Add pectin and bring mixture to a boil

Stir in all 7 cups of sugar and return to a boil

Boil for a full minute, stirring constantly

Skim foam (add some margarine to reduce the foam – it works like a charm!)

Ladle into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace

Process in boiling water canner for 5 minutes

Voila! You now have 8 half-pints of delicious raspberry jam! When I started canning I was SO fearful of killing someone with my preserves that I did not deviate even slightly from the recipe. As time has gone on, I have determined that I like the sweetness of my jam “cut” a little bit, so I tend to add a few squirts of lemon juice to my boiling fruit and sugar mixture. It is totally safe, and adds just a little bit of dimension to the jam.

This particular jam was a big winner, and of my 8 jars, one went to my dad, several went to Dale’s mom (who is apparently a jam fanatic), and one is resting happily in my fridge, adorning my toast or crackers when I want a little post-work snack. Mmm jam!

Is this similar to recipes you have used before? Any suggestions for how to take a basic raspberry jam and dress it up a bit? What is your favourite way to eat your preserves?